The Olympic Dictionary 92 JAGER THOMAS MICHAEL
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The Olympic Dictionary J JAGER THOMAS MICHAEL “TOM” (swimming, USA, b. East St. Louis, Illinois, 6/10/1964). Three appearances (1984, 1988, 1992), 5 gold medals (4x100 freestyle 1984, 1988 and 1992, 4x100 medley 1984 and 1988), one silver (50 freestyle, 1988) and one bronze (50 freestyle, 1992). 1984 2- 0-0, 1988 2-1-0, 1992 1-0-1. He won 3 gold medals racing only in the heats with the American relay team, and another 2 swimming in the final, the third leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay in 1988 (setting the world record time of 3:16.53) and in 1992. In 1988, he had not lost against Matt Biondi (q.v.) in the 50 freestyle for 2 years, including the 1986 World Championships and the 1988 Trials, but he finished 22 hundredths behind his rival; 4 years later, he held the world record at 21.81 (he had set it, seen live on TV, in 1990, in a race with Biondi), but on that occasion he was beaten by Biondi and also by the Russian Aleksandr Popov (q.v.) who won the gold medal. In 1996 he tried to qualify for his fourth Olympiad, but he did not get through the Trials. He won 4 World Championship gold medals (50 freestyle and 4x100 freestyle, 1986-91) and set 6 world records for the 50 freestyle: the last, 21.81 as mentioned, remained unbeaten for 10 years. He won 11 US titles. JAMAICA (Caribbean, capital Kingston, area 10.991 km2, population 2.713.782). 42 medals: 7 gold, 21 silver, 14 bronze. Best Olympics: Helsinki 1952, with 2 gold and 3 silver. Best sport: track & field, with 7 gold, 21 silver and 13 bronze medals (41 out of the 42 medals won, the other is a bronze in cycling). Most decorated athlete: Veronica Campbell, athletics, 2 gold medals (200 m and 4x100 m 2004), one silver (4x100 m 2000) and one bronze (100 m 2004); Merlene Ottey (q.v.) has won a total of 8 medals, but no golds (3 silver and 5 bronze). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1936, received IOC recognition the same year. The country has appeared at all Games since 1948 including Rome 1960, where it was present as part of a mixed team, with Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago. The Organising Committee erroneously called the team Antilles. Two medals (not counted in the total for Jamaica) were won at those Games: bronze in the 4x400 and another for one of the relay team members, George Kerr, in the 800. Kerr, Malcolm Spence and Keith Gardner were Jamaican; James Wedderburn was from Barbados. JAPAN (Asia, capital Tokyo, area 372.824 km2, population 127.966.710). 333 medals: 113 gold, 106 silver, 114 bronze. Best Olympics: Athens 2004, with 16 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals. Best sport: judo, with 31 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: Sawao Kato (q.v.), gymnastics, with 8 gold (individual all-around 1968 and 1972, floor exercise 1968, team 1968, 1972 and 1976, parallel bars 1972 and 1976), 3 silver (individual all-around 1972, horizontal bar 1972, pommel horse 1972) and one bronze (rings 1968). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1911, received IOC recognition the following year; since 1912 Japan has only missed the 1948 (not invited as an aggressor country in the Second World War) and 1980 Games due to the boycott. JÄRVINEN MATTI HENRIKKI (track & field, Finland, b. Tampere 18/2/1909, d. Helsinki 22/7/1985). Two appearances (1932, 1936) and one gold medal (javelin 1932). 1932 1-0-0. Verner Järvinen had won Finland’s first Olympic gold medal, in the Greek-style discus throw at the 1906 Intercalated Games (plus a bronze medal in the discus in the same edition; and another bronze in the Greek-style discus throw in 1908). Three of his sons took part in the 1932 Games: Kaarlo “Kalle” Verner came 12th in the shot put, Akilles “Tatu” won silver medal in the decathlon, after the silver that he had won in 1928 (in 1930 he had also set a world record), while Matti won gold medal in javelin. His were the 5 best throws in the competition, he finished almost 3 metres ahead of the 92 The Olympic Dictionary silver medallist, and he took off his tracksuit trousers only for the photo. He also won 2 European gold medals (1934-38) and 8 Finnish titles, and he set 10 world records between 1930 and 1936, from 71.57 to 77.23 metres. During his career he achieved 20 throws at over 75 metres, but at the 1936 Olympics, he had back problems and came only 5th. JEU DE PAUME Forerunner of tennis, also known as Court Tennis or Real Tennis, it was an Olympic sport only in London in 1908. Cf. Sports, section IV, chapter Forgotten sports. JOHANSSON IVAR (wrestling, Norway, b. Kuddby 31/1/1903, d. Norrköping 4/8/1979). Two appearances (1932, 1936) and 3 gold medals (freestyle, middleweight 79 kg, 1932; greco-roman, welter 72 kg, 1932; greco-roman, middleweight 79 kg, 1936). 1932 1-0-0, 1936 2-0-0. In Los Angeles he won 4 matches in 3 days, winning the gold medal for freestyle on 3 August, just within the limit for the 79 kg category; then he spent a day in the sauna, lost 5 kg, won another 4 matches, and on 7 August he won gold medal in Greco-Roman in the category below. His won his third gold in Berlin, in Greco-Roman. He also won 9 European Championship gold medals (6 in Greco- Roman, 3 in freestyle), a silver and a bronze, between 1931 and 1939; and he won 24 Swedish titles, the last at the age of 40. JOHNSON BEN (track & field, Canada, b. Falmouth, Jamaica, 30/12/1961). Three appearances (1984, 1988, 1992), 2 bronze medals (100 m and 4x100 m relay, 1984). 1984 0-0-2. He is famous for the greatest doping scandal in the history of the Games. It occurred in 1988, when the Canadian sprinter, who already held the world record at 9.83 but who had been beaten earlier that season by his rival Carl Lewis (q.v.) in Zurich and Cologne, was not the favourite for the 100 metres when he reached Seoul. He risked elimination in the quarter finals, finishing third in 10.17 behind Linford Christie (q.v.) and Dennis Mitchell. Qualifying as one of the fastest third-place finishers, in the semi-final he won without causing any great excitement in 10.03, while Lewis flew, at 9.97. In the final the American made a better start than usual, with a reaction time slightly slower than that of Johnson (0.136 as opposed to 0.134), whose start speed was his major advantage. At 80 metres the Canadian had a 2 metre lead, and Lewis was pulling back in the last metres but not enough to reach Johnson, who won at 9.79, world record. “This record will last for 50 years”, he said after the race. But the anti-doping checks revealed 90 nanograms of a steroid, Stanozolol, confirmed by sample B. The IOC reported that Johnson had tested positive, and launched an enquiry: his coach Charlie Francis, ex Canadian sprinter, and his doctor Jamie Astaphan revealed that Johnson had been taking steroids, testosterone and diuretics since November 1981 in order to hide the traces of GH, growth hormone, extracted from the pituitary gland of dead bodies. In June 1989, Johnson himself confessed, adding that one month before the games, he had been given the last injections of Winstrol-V, a product used to fatten calves. He was disqualified for two years, his medals (gold in Seoul and the gold won at the Rome World Championships in 1987) were assigned to the athlete coming second, in both cases Carl Lewis, his records were cancelled, including the 9.83 achieved at the World Championships in Rome, and his personal best dropped to the 10.14 set in the quarter finals in Rome. He kept just the 2 bronze medals won at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in the 100 metres (10.22 behind Lewis and Sam Graddy) and in the 4x100 (38.70 with Tony Sharpe, Desai Williams and Sterling Hinds). Johnson, born to a poor family in Jamaica, had moved to Canada in 1976. He began running there, coached by Charlie Francis. Before the Seoul scandal, he had won the 100 in the 1985 World Cup and at the 1986 Commonwealth Games (where he also won the 4x100). In 1987, during the 100 final at the World Championships in Rome, he recorded the best starting reaction time ever, 0.109. After the disqualification period inflicted at Seoul, he returned to competitive running in late 1990. One year later, he came 8th in the final with the Canadian 4x100 at the Tokyo World Championships. He qualified for the 1992 Barcelona Games, where he was eliminated in the semi-final (coming last, 10.70). In January 1993, he tested positive for testosterone after an indoor meeting in Montreal, and he was expelled from the IAAF. That ended his career. For 93 The Olympic Dictionary two short periods he was coach to Saadi Gheddafi, son of Libyan leader Muhammar Gheddafi, and to ex footballer Diego Armando Maradona. He then turned to advertising, his range of sportswear, and he worked as a coach. “I have achieved something good in life”, he said a few years ago, “my parents saw me run faster than any other human being, and that’s enough.